Sacramento activists propose alternate ‘strong mayor’ measure. Council discussing tonight
Ahead of a Sacramento City Council discussion about whether to place a controversial measure on the November ballot to give the mayor more power, a group of community activists is presenting a counter proposal.
Mayor Darrell Steinberg and a group of community and business leaders Thursday presented a proposal for a ballot measure that would give Sacramento a “strong mayor” form of government along with a handful of other changes activists have been requesting for weeks that are aimed to uplift communities of color and increase transparency.
On Monday afternoon, activist Flojaune Cofer posted a link to a letter on Twitter, saying the item should be separated into two measures on the ballot – one on “strong mayor” and the other for the community equity pieces.
“While we are pleased to see city leadership take action on our community proposals, we are disturbed about the zero sum game of their passage being linked to other provisions in the act; specifically, changing the power, composition and structure of the Mayor and Council governance,” the letter said.
Steinberg said the pieces go together and should be one item on the Nov. 3 ballot.
“We believe that the discreet pieces of the initiative are linked together for a compelling reason,” Steinberg said in a statement. “The current structure of city government does not give our city the best opportunity to deliver on the change for people and our neighborhoods that people are rightfully demanding.”
The letter also said that if the council votes to place the “strong mayor” measure on the ballot, it should not include mayoral veto power. As currently written, the mayor would not have a vote on the council, but could veto measures the council passes, including line items in the budget. The council would be able to overturn the veto with a two-thirds vote.
The letter also says the mayor should remain a voting member on the council, meaning a ninth member would not need to be added.
In addition, the letter urges the council to strengthen the language on the community equity pieces to ensure they are binding. That includes an item that would require the city to spend $40 million a year on inclusive economic development and youth. The language does not say that money would have to be from the Measure U sales tax increase voters approved in 2018, although that appears to be the idea. The letter says the Measure U Citizens Advisory Committee, which Cofer chairs, with input from young people of color, should decide how to spend those funds.
The letter also asks the council to place an item on the Nov. 3 ballot to grant the council more power over pay, benefits and working conditions for the city’s public safety personnel, including police officers. The item, which would remove binding arbitration from city police and fire union contracts, was recommended by consultants earlier this year.
More than 180 people had signed the letter as of noon Tuesday, including Councilwoman-Elect Katie Valenzuela, council candidate Mai Vang and Community Police Review Commission member Kiran Savage-Sangwan.
The council will meet at 5 p.m. Tuesday to discuss the ballot measure proposal. They are expected to consider placing the measure on the ballot during their Aug. 4 meeting. The deadline to place measures on the Nov. 3 ballot is Aug. 7.
This story was originally published July 28, 2020 at 12:12 PM.
